As I thought, the coliseum had been totally wrecked. Debris lay all over the place, the majority buried within the gigantic crater in the middle. The reinforced walls had been cracked, pockmarked like the surface of the moon after suffering eons of bombardment from meteorites. Well, given that I had just unleashed my most powerful Draconic Meteor Strike ever, I guess that made sense.

Where"s Feng Tian Yong?

I scanned through the rubble while simultaneously relying on my Heaven and Earth qi sense to pick out his presence. Having expended almost all of my qi in the last attack, my qi sense had severely weakened and I could only rely on my physical senses.

Staggering through the fumes and dust, while cautiously making my way through the rubble, I approached the last position where I saw Feng Tian Yong. Even if the guy was still conscious, he wasn"t the type to launch a sneak attack. And if he did, I was confident that I would be able to react in time. Nonetheless, I had to finish this once and for all or the match wouldn"t end.

"Huff…huff…"

I could hear my own ragged breathing through the din the spectators were making, over the seemingly deafening footsteps as my feet crunched against the debris. I didn"t know if the breathing was my own or Feng Tian Yong"s.

"!!!"

A movement somewhere across the other side of the crater. A blur of crimson. And a bright flare of fiery qi.

"Go down already!"

Feng Tian Yong roared as he swung his blazing sword at me. I parried his flaming blade with my swords and skidded backward, much of my strength having left me earlier. Unlike me, Feng Tian Yong still appeared to possess large amounts of strength…

No. His reserves were just as depleted as mine. He was burning every ounce of qi he had left in the hopes of defeating me before he exhausted himself.

In other words, if I can hold out and survive his next attack, it would be my victory.

But there was no meaning to winning like that. I wanted to overcome Feng Tian Yong"s attacks with everything I had on the line. I wanted to win "honorably" and prove that I was superior to him. This wasn"t a life-and-death battle. It was a tournament. It wasn"t as if my life was at stake or I needed to resort to such underhanded methods to survive. No, in a tournament, it was my pride that was at stake here. If Feng Tian Yong was an enemy from a demonic sect who was trying to kill me, then I wouldn"t think twice about letting his reserves run out and then killing him from behind.

But this was a compet.i.tion between students, a tournament to determine one"s rankings. It wasn"t a battle for survival.

Therefore I wanted to pit my strength against Feng Tian Yong"s and prove that I was stronger than him. In a battle for survival, I didn"t need to prove my strength – the victory condition for that was the fact that I was still alive after the fight. However, a tournament was different. Neither of us was going to die. But what endured after the match was the manner of our victory, and our att.i.tude and respect toward our opponents.

I wasn"t that guy, after all.

"Uwoooooh!"

With a bellow, I dug my heels in and halted my slide backward, drawing whatever qi I had left and infusing my swords with it. For a moment it seemed that I was overpowering Feng Tian Yong, my azure qi freezing the flames on his sword and turning them into ice.

"Like I"ll let you!!!!!"

Feng Tian Yong roared back and exerted more physical strength into his blow, shattering the ice and revitalizing the flames.

"Go, Tian Yong!" the girls screamed from above.

"Take him out, Fei Wu!" the guys yelled behind them.

"Wu!" one single voice drowned out everyone else"s, to the point where I raised my head to glance at the window in surprise. It was Tang Qi Hong. She was pressing her fists against the reinforced gla.s.s and yelling at me. "Don"t you dare lose to that jerk? Kick his a.s.s!"

"I"m not a jerk!" Feng Tian Yong protested, chagrined. He was so used to being fawned over by the girls that he didn"t expect one to be cheering me on. I chuckled, ignoring my opponent, and nodded toward Tang Qi Hong"s direction.

"I"ll do my best."

"Is she your girlfriend or something?" Feng Tian Yong growled. My mouth curled upward a little, though whether it was from joy or bitterness, even I myself couldn"t tell.

"I wish she is."

"Heh." Feng Tian Yong snorted. "Lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"I don"t want to hear that from you!"

We sprang apart in a shower of sparks, our swords still tremnling from the violent encounter. Without hesitation, we both kicked off the ground and closed the gap between us within a single bound, our swords swinging toward each other.

"AAAAAAH!"

"UWOOOOOH!"

Both of us bellowed as we clashed against each other, the remnants of our qi actually intensifying and swelling around us despite us being drained. Fire and ice collided, burned and froze, appeared and vanished, before culminating in an explosion.

We continued to exchange several ferocious blows for four more minutes, our strength and energy not diminishing at all. The devastated ground around us crumbled further, sending more debris into the air as our swirling qi levitated them, but with so much damage dealt to them during the course of the match, there wasn"t much of a difference on the surface.

"Gr…!"

Gritting his teeth, Feng Tian Yong stepped forward and struck at me. Instinctively, I used Liu, having gotten used to the pattern of his attacks after the ferocious exchange over the last few minutes, and slipped through his defenses.

"…!!!!"

Feng Tian Yong"s eyes widened in disbelief when I halted his sword by moving my arm into the trajectory of his sword, stopping him before he could carry out his attack. Before he could respond, I rammed the pommel of my sword into his chest, causing him to stagger.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!"

Bellowing in rage, Feng Tian Yong slashed downward, but having executed Liu, I could antic.i.p.ate the movements of my opponent and move accordingly. Instead, I spun to the side and kicked him in his midriff, causing him to double over. Before he could raise his head, I pressed the cold steel of my right sword against the back of his neck.

He froze.

"It"s over," I told him. "Surrender now."

For a few seconds, I could hear Feng Tian Yong grinding his teeth in frustration as he chewed on the bleak possibilities open to him, but he eventually relented and dropped his sword onto the ground before raising both his hands.

"I give up."

"…winner: Fei Wu!"

Teacher Cai wasted no time announcing my victory. His voice was followed by groans of dismay from the girls, which were then drowned out by the rugged cheers of the guys. Withdrawing my right sword, I raised it to the air and did a mock salute.

The guys" cheers grew louder.

*

"You really know how to pander to an audience, don"t you?" Tong Xue snickered when he saw me. I waved at him and the rest of my friends when I caught sight of their approach.

"Great job, Wu!" Tang Qi Hong said in delight. Evidently she was one of the only girls who didn"t cheer for Feng Tian Yong and encouraged me instead. Recalling her shout near the end of my fight, I smiled.

"Thanks."

"Not bad. Not bad at all."

Lian Rou was nodding in approval as she strolled beside Tong Xue, while winking mischievously.

"Impressive!" Zhu Jiao exclaimed and smacked my shoulder. "You"ve made it to the semifinals as well!"

"There was never any doubt he would," Ban Zhang declared proudly. Oi, what were you so proud of? I was the one who got into the semifinals, not you. It wasn"t as if you were my manager or something! That role would probably belong to Tong Xue.

"Well, I"m glad it is over," I muttered before staggering unsteadily. Tang Qi Hong quickly stepped forward to support me.

"You have best go to the infirmary and get your injuries treated!"

I didn"t argue. The injuries I sustained during the match against Feng Tian Yong were much more severe than the ones I received when fighting Kuang Hu. While Kuang Hu was certainly more ruthless and much faster, Feng Tian Yong was a lot more formidable and powerful. Kuang Hu could only leave superficial cuts on my skin, but Feng Tian Yong literally incinerated me. If I didn"t have inner qi to protect myself, I would have turn to ash long ago.

"Yeah, thanks."

Leaning on Tang Qi Hong and Tong Xue, I allowed them to support me toward the infirmary. Feng Tian Yong was probably ferried there by his female fanclub way ahead of me, so we didn"t have to worry about him.

Even though we fought so ferociously against each other, it wasn"t as if we held any ill will or grudge. Like I said, Feng Tian Yong was a cla.s.smate and friend who treated me decently. Okay, he didn"t really step in when I was being bullied, but he didn"t partic.i.p.ate in abusing me either. Or maybe he did help me out once or twice, and I helped him in return. I wasn"t calculative enough to keep track of all these little things.

"You"re finally here."

Teacher Yi folded her arms and stared at me as I limped into her infirmary. Behind her, another student groaned as he lay on the bed.

"Ah, Zhu Jiao!"

Qing Xin Xia was one of Teacher Yi"s a.s.sistants, tending to another patient who had just finished his duel. She finished up her treatment and stood up to greet him. Zhu Jiao returned the wave, and then Qing Xin Xia turned to nod at the rest of us in acknowledgement. Evidently she only had eyes for Zhu Jiao.

I briefly wondered if she knew about Zhu Jiao"s affection for Bai Ning Xue. She had to, right? The whole school was aware of the special relationship between the two of them.

Obviously I wasn"t tactless enough to ask her about it directly, though.

"Xin Xia, can you take care of Sheng Bing for me?"

"Right away!"

Qing Xin Xia snapped out of her lovestruck stupor and hurried toward another patient who was moaning softly in a nearby bed. Teacher Yi turned toward me and shook her head. Apparently she could tell what kind of injuries I suffered from just a single glance.

"Wow…both of you really didn"t hold back, did you?"

"Have you already treated Feng Tian Yong?" I asked. Teacher Yi gave me a sharp look before she sighed and nodded.

"Yeah. His injuries were marginally better than yours…marginally." She shook her head again in disapproval. "Look, I understand that this is a prestigious compet.i.tion, and that you"re all fighting to achieve the highest ranks you can, but show a little restraint, all right? Try not to kill each other. You"re all cla.s.smates."

"Trust me," I muttered. "If I really wanted to kill my opponent, he would already be dead."

"I don"t doubt that," Teacher Yi replied wearily. "But you"ll make my job – and that of Teacher Jiao"s – a lot more difficult."

"Sorry." I wasn"t able to muster a retort to that.

"All right. Go lie down over there." Teacher Yi gestured toward an empty bed. "Wait for your turn. As for the rest of you…" she turned to my friends. "The queue is long and the treatment will take some time, so I suggest you all return to your dorm. Student Zhu Jiao, don"t you have your quarterfinal match tomorrow? Make sure you have enough rest."

"Uh, Teacher Yi…I already finished my match yesterday." Zhu Jiao scratched his head and laughed a little sheepishly. "I didn"t drop by the infirmary because I was completely uninjured. I"m not lying, honestly!"

Teacher Yi regarded him for a few seconds, and then nodded. "I believe you. You guys should leave first. The treatment will take a while."

There was a faint undercurrent of don"t get in the way of my job. My friends weren"t dense enough to miss it, so they nodded and complied.

"I"ll see you later, Wu," Tang Qi Hong told me as she waved.

"Yeah! I"ll see you in the dorm later!" Tong Xue added. He grinned cheekily. "Don"t go anywhere else! We"re going to throw you and Zhu Jiao a party!"

"Isn"t it too premature to be celebrating?" Ban Zhang asked with a raised eyebrow. "It"s not as if they won the tournament yet."

"Oh come on, don"t be such a spoilsport!" Tong Xue threw an arm over Ban Zhang"s neck and playfully dragged him out of the infirmary. "Let us have some fun!"

"Yeah." Zhu Jiao nodded as he followed them, his expression thoughtful. "It might a while before we can enjoy ourselves like this."

I wasn"t sure I liked the ominous tone of his words.

"You both made it to the semifinals!" Tong Xue told Zhu Jiao, unaware of the premonition I felt. "You, Wu, Bai Ning Xue and Li Chun Long. All four semifinalists are from our cla.s.s! This is a cause for celebration!"

"Hmm, it seems likely that you"ll be able to keep your promise and meet Bai Ning Xue in the finals if you clear the seminfinals." Ban Zhang nodded, careful with his words.

"Yeah." Zhu Jiao held up his hand and clenched it to a fist. "I"ll defeat her, and then I"ll confess to her."

"How romantic…" Lian Rou"s eyes were shining. In contrast, Tang Qi Hong looked grim as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Do you have any chance of winning against Bai Ning Xue? She"s quite the monster, you know. She has been completely unbeaten throughout all her years in the academy."

"What are you talking about?" Tong Xue scoffed. "Zhu Jiao could pull Bai Ning Xue"s long winning streak to a halt. He has made it this far without injury."

"I was only lucky with the matches," Zhu Jiao replied modestly. Tong Xue snorted at that.

"Yeah, right! You faced three student council members in a row and defeated all of them! Before that you emerged the unbeaten winner of the group of death during the prelimary rounds! And you"re telling me you got lucky with the matches?!"

"Ah…ha ha ha ha…"

Zhu Jiao scratched the back of his head as he laughed sheepishly.

"Hey, are you guys finished with your conversation? If you want to talk, go somewhere else. You"re disturbing the patients."

"Ah…sorry!"

My friends bowed apologetically when Teacher Yi repriemanded them, and they quickly left. Heaving a sigh, I proceeded toward the bed that Teacher Yi directed me to and plopped down on it.

"Oh, hey!"

"Hey!"

I was slightly surprised to see Feng Tian Yong on the neighboring bed. Apparently he was required to wait in line like me. Teacher Yi wasn"t one to play favorites, after all. And she wouldn"t be attracted to someone as young as Feng Tian Yong.

Her heart was most likely set on Teacher Jiao.

"Sorry about earlier."

"What? No, no, no!" Feng Tian Yong was astonished by my apology, and he waved his hands frantically. "It was a great match! I"m proud to have fought against you!"

I smiled. "I"m glad you think that way."

Feng Tian Yong laughed. "How else am I supposed to think? You were a formidable foe. And you"ve earned my respect all over again." he leaned in close. "Hey…how did you grow so strong? I thought you were only a One Star Const.i.tution cultivator. Do you have some sort of secret you"ve been keeping from the rest of us?"

"No." Actually, I might. I thought back to my experiences back in Sen Lin Forest, of my physical transformation upon consuming magical beasts and demonic monsters" meat in the abyss. Then I recalled how I absorbed the qi from a hundred demonic martial artists in the Chinese Parasol Tree Sect"s hideout a couple of years ago.

"Hmm…" If Feng Tian Yong was skeptical, he didn"t show it. Instead, he leaned back on the soft pillow, grimacing as he did so, and then glanced up at the ceiling. "My goodness. This means the semifinals are all our cla.s.s. You, Zhu Jiao, Li Chun Long and Bai Ning Xue. Wow, our cla.s.s 1-4 is totally dominating the tournament."

"No doubt some people are going to suspect our cla.s.s of cheating or something," I muttered under my breath.

"Ha ha! Even if they do, they don"t have any proof! Besides, how are we supposed to cheat? Do they think we can rig the matches or bribe the referees or something? And…" Feng Tian Yong narrowed his eyes. "If they can"t believe we won through the virtue of our superior strength alone, then they"re welcome to challenge us to an official match."

"That sounds troublesome," I complained. It was already tiring to put up with these almost daily tournament matches, and now they wanted us to accept challenges from dissatisfied schoolmates who couldn"t believe that we had progressed this far?

"That"s just how it is," Feng Tian Yong replied breezily. Easy for him to say. He didn"t have to fight in the semifinals. "I"ll welcome any challenge."

Of course you would. Feng Tian Yong would never throw away any chance for him to show off in front of the girls. As if to emphasize my point, Feng Tian Yong whistled when Qing Xin Xia walked past and waved at her in a friendly manner.

"Doing a great job as always, Xin Xia!"

"Yes." Qing Xin Xia smiled politely, but moved on to tend to the other students. I glanced at Feng Tian Yong and was surprised to see that he wasn"t disappointed. He merely leaned back against his bed and relaxed.

"I see Xin Xia is still pining for Zhu Jiao, eh?"

"Eh?"

"What, you didn"t notice?" Feng Tian Yong sat up to stare at me. I shook my head.

"No, I mean I knew about Qing Xin Xia"s feelings for Zhu Jiao all this while, but I just didn"t expect you to…say it so bluntly."

"Oh. Well, it"s none of my business, but even so…it"s kind of tough to see her pine one-sidedly for an unrequited love. Zhu Jiao"s attention is completely on Bai Ning Xue, after all. That"s one h.e.l.l of a love rival."

"…right."

"Well, there"s the harem option." Feng Tian Yong grinned. "Zhu Jiao could learn from me and choose all of the girls. Have both Bai Ning Xue and Qing Xin Xia. I"m sure they"ll learn to accept each other. Bai Ning Xue will surely be the official wife, but Xin Xia probably wouldn"t mind being the mistress. All Zhu Jiao needs is to embrace and love all the girls equally…like me!"

"Uh…"

There was so many things wrong with what Feng Tian Yong said that I didn"t know where to begin. Too tired to argue, I merely sank into silence. Feng Tian Yong refused to give up, however, and opened an eye to peer at me.

"Speaking of which…how about you, Fei Wu? How"s your relationship going with Tang Qi Hong?"

I smiled at him. "That"s…none of your business."

*

Teacher Yi wasn"t kidding when she said that the treatment would take a while. By the time she was done with me, it was already late evening. Fortunately, Feng Tian Yong had gone in before me and he had left long ago, so I didn"t have to listen to him bragging about conquering a harem of girls while returning to the dormitory.

"…eh? Isn"t that…Qing Xin Xia?"

While I was walking down the corridor, I caught sight of a familiar figure. Qing Xin Xia was several paces ahead of me, hurriedly striding down the length of the corridor and turning around a corner. Since we were going the same way, I hastened my pace to catch up with her.

I didn"t have any ulterior motives. I only intended to accompany her on her way back to the dormitory, especially when it was this late at night.

However, Qing Xin Xia wasn"t proceeding in the direction of the dormitory. I was astonished to see her turn round a corner and head for the second level.

"That"s…"

Intrigued, and having nothing better to do, I ended up giving in to my curiosity and following her. Okay, I knew what I was doing was stalking, but I just couldn"t help it. I wanted to know where Qing Xin Xia was going this late at night, if it wasn"t the girls" dorm.

How suspicious, I thought, the irony completely flying over my head as usual. Or maybe I enjoyed being a hypocrite while I pathetically tried to justify my stalkerish behavior. Whatever the case, I needed to follow her for the plot to move along. It sounded contrived, but then let"s be serious. Which guy didn"t follow a beautiful girl around when she"s all alone?

Don"t tell Tang Qi Hong I said that or she would absolutely murder me.

Using Shadow Steps, I kept my presence concealed and succeeded in tailing Qing Xin Xia without her knowing. I suddenly realized that Shadow Steps were perfect for stalking, but reminded myself not to pull something like this again.

I mean, jokes aside, there was something amiss with Qing Xin Xia"s movements. I wasn"t stalking her because I was a pervert. The more I studied her, the more I understood that my curiosity was piqued by her body language.

Qing Xin Xia was looking around, as if watching for someone. She looked all nervous, perspiring despite the chill of the night. Her frantic glancing and jumping at shadows only served to harden my suspicions and magnified my curiosity.

"Isn"t that…?"

I frowned when Qing Xin Xia finally stopped in front of a room. She glanced around one last time, as if making sure no one was following her, and then knocked on the door.

"It"s me."

There was a m.u.f.fled response from behind the door, and then it swung open. Qing Xin Xia looked around cautiously one last time before she disappeared into the room. The door then shut and clicked, signaling that it was locked.

"Huh…"

Frowning, I wondered what had gotten Qing Xin Xia into such a high state of alert. Once I was sure no one would notice, I stealthily made my way toward the door. Stopping in front of it, I gaped at the words stenciled into the front.

"The student council…?"

"Ugh…"

I heard Yuan Mei grinding her teeth as she bit on her finger. Even if I couldn"t see her, I could somewhat sense her foul mood and her actions through my Heaven and Earth qi sense. She was clearly frustrated over something.

"How could this happen!?" Ding Yan exclaimed angrily. "We paid such careful attention to the matchups!"

"I can"t believe Zhu Jiao advanced to the semifinals without much difficulty! Even though he was a.s.signed to the group of death and had to face three of us…!"

This time it sounded like Gu Chun Song.

"It"s because of that Fei Wu b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" Li Guo Qiang snarled. "We thought Feng Tian Yong would be able to defeat him, but he somehow beat even Tian Yong! He didn"t seem to be anything special up until this point!"

"Thanks to him, all the matchups are ruined," Xin Lai sighed. "What are we supposed to do now? The plan"s…"

Plan…? What plan?

Scowling, I leaned closer to pay more attention to the student council members" conversation. I could sense the rough positions of all the student council members. The majority of them were seated on the luxurious couches that surrounded the huge mahogany table where their notes and doc.u.ments were scattered on.

Only one person stood aloof, right next to the windows. Folding his arms, he gazed outside, his expression grim.

"Chun Long?" Qing Xin Xia asked, concerned. Li Chun Long finally turned his head back to look at the rest of the student council.

"I"ll take care of Fei Wu."

"Chun Long, you"re the only one left among us," Xin Lai told him. "So we"re counting on you. Will you really be able to defeat Fei Wu?"

"He"s just trash," Li Guo Qiang growled dismissively. "He got lucky, that"s all."

"Even luck wouldn"t allow him to defeat Wu Xing from Kun Lun Sect, Wu Hei Gui, Kuang Hu and Feng Tian Yong in consecutive matches," Gu Chun Song warned. Technically, he was mistaken. I didn"t face them in consecutive matches. I fought Wu Hei Gui early on during the preliminary rounds, and not before I fought Wu Xing.

"In other words, we can"t afford to underestimate him," Ding Yan remarked.

"I won"t," Li Chun Long promised. "But he"s in my cla.s.s. I know how to deal with him. He"s still a One Star Const.i.tution cultivator who can"t absorb artificial qi. He should be of no threat. I"m more worried about Zhu Jiao."

"No threat? Are you serious? I mean, I see what you mean, but…"

"I"ll stake my life on it. I promise." Li Chun Long cut off Yuan Mei before she could finish her sentence. "I…will stop Fei Wu by any means necessary."

He then turned to walk out of the door. Realizing that he was heading out of the room – and I was right outside – I quickly used my Shadow Steps to dive into the shadows and continue hiding my presence as he left.

As Li Chun Long walked out of the door, he paused for a second and gave his comrades in the student council one last glance.

"So…" he said grimly. "You guys make sure to take care of Zhu Jiao."

"Chun Long…" Qing Xin Xia murmured softly.

This isn"t good!

Scrambling away from the student council office, I struggled to process what I had just heard. If I hadn"t misheard them, then I had just stumbled upon some sort of conspiracy. Feng Tian Yong"s words came back to haunt me.

The tournament…it had really been rigged! By none other than the student council!

I"ve to tell Teacher Jiao!

Feeling my chest tighten from the anxiety, I quickly fled to the dormitory while vowing to see Teacher Jiao first thing tomorrow morning.